That sounds far too fun and friendly for the schedule that their home arena's skating shows have forced them to play starting Sunday. Already skating on thin ice after home losses to Cleveland and New Jersey, the Suns start a five-game trip Sunday at San Antonio that also will take them through Chicago, New York, Boston and Dallas over nine days.

The Suns (4-7) have gone from ideal home routs of Portland and Milwaukee and playing the Lakers to within one point on the road for 3½ quarters to a three-game losing streak. On Friday, they lost at home to a team with only two other wins for the second time this season (New Jersey, New Orleans).

They lost to the Nets without their offensive and defensive leaders, injured co-captains Steve Nash (thigh bruise) and Grant Hill (sore right knee), but they expect both to play Sunday as the Suns try to become the first visitor to win at San Antonio in nine tries this season.

"Guys are going to have to be ready and be healthy enough to pick it up a notch and for us to come back on a positive note from this road trip," Suns forward Jared Dudley said. "We've got to go on this road trip and steal some games against teams that are some of the best in the NBA."

The Suns have better field-goal, 3-point and free-throw shooting percentages than their opponents on the season. They even have made fewer turnovers but they have taken an average of two fewer shots and four fewer free throws per game because they are allowing opponents to grab 13.3 offensive rebounds per game.

The Suns handled the defensive boards better in Friday night's 110-103 loss to New Jersey but yielded a critical second-chance 3-pointer in the game's final minute.

The offense, even without Nash on Friday, has been improving while the defense has regressed to land the Suns at 16th in scoring offense (94.1 points per game) and 16th in scoring defense (94.7 points yielded per game). The most encouraging offensive facet has been the play of center Marcin Gortat, whose healed thumb fracture has made him a better pick-and-roll player. That eventually could aid 3-point shooting, an area of gradual improvement.

Since removing the splint from his thumb, Gortat has made 70 percent of his shots and averaged 16.0 points and 9.4 rebounds.

"I really believe we can be a good team," Gortat said. "We have a lot of talented players. We have good nights where we show that and we play as a team. Recently, for some reason, we're just not playing the way we're supposed to play. I'm trying to personally change that. I'm trying to talk to the guys."

The Suns are averaging 101.5 points in victories and 89.8 points in losses but lost Friday night for the first time when scoring 100. They shot a season-best 52 percent but still lost because they continued a string of allowing a high-scoring individual performance and a big team 3-point shooting game.

"We can't get depressed," Suns power forward Channing Frye said. "We can't get too down on ourselves. I think losing sucks. I don't think we've got losers on this team. These ups and downs happen during a season. So it's going to make us a better team."